Ashes to Ashes, Chimichangas to Tacos
by evilgreenmunkii
Summary: Set before Wade becomes Deadpool. Wade ends up finding a young mutant and over the years the two becomes close friends. Much chaos and fluff ensue as Ash seems to worm her way into the other team members hearts, well everyone but Zero and Styker. Lots of fourth-wall breaking over here folks, M for many reasons and mixed with Movieverse.
1. Oh damn with a topping of oh shit!

((AN. I don't own Deadpool or Marvel.

FYI this is a revised chapter one. Touched up and redone!  
Also I had to delete the story and reupload it since FF was being a jerk and wouldn't let me fix some errors I found.  
This fanfic is going to be a mix of movie verse and comic verse.  
I don't think I'm having the year set so far back though, maybe just a little ahead of the movie verse.  
Also this is all happening about... Six or so years before Logan and Victor join the team.  
Expect a few character changes, minor changes and some things will be different from the movies.

So enjoy!))

If you were to tell Wade Wilson that he would end up being somewhat of a father to a young girl, he'd laugh before slowly chopping off all your limbs while singing nursery rhymes. The itsy bitsy spider was his favorite, by the way.  
Because face it, being a father wasn't his style and it wasn't something he planned on ever doing.  
Come on, I mean a mercenary who didn't just kill for money but because he LOVED it. If that wasn't the opposite of a role model then I don't know what is.  
But if you told him that this little girl would be the center of his universe AND grow up to be a smoking hot babe, we'll then apologies for cutting you up. That probably wouldn't make things right between you two would it?

Now little Ash could be considered a very lucky girl or unlucky when Wade rescued her, Victor would later say she was better off dying instead of being raised by the crazy blonde. Victor would then later find all his bathroom supplies replaced by cat products. But I think I'm poking around too much into the future, I should take a step back and tell the story from the beginning.

**Early January **

Wade was making a short visit to Manhattan after taking, no being forced to take a month vacation by Stryker. Everyone knew it was because he needed the mouthy merc away for some time to regain his sanity. Wade couldn't really complain about it, free for a short time to go find some chicks and all the Mexican food he wanted, fuck Stryker and the protein diet he puts everyone on.  
So why was he in Manhattan during the fucking winter? Well for the few seedy neighborhoods with mobs and gangs just looking for a mercenary who doesn't care about anything else but how full the kill will make his pockets of course!  
The ground was covered in snow with the clouds above dark and heavy with threats of even more snow, even the city workers seemed to have given up trying to clear the roads. Wade had finished a quick request a few hours ago and was looking around for a place with decent grub and a low percentage of the runs. It was a simple go in and kill, no questions asked. Wasn't all that exciting but it was something to get the adrenaline pumping plus his blades looked so pretty when they wore red.

His thoughts started to drift along the lines of 'what else would look pretty in red?' when screams and laughter less than a block away caught his attention.  
Could it be that there was more killing to be done tonight?  
He walked briskly towards the sounds, hoping he didn't look too eager to a few passerby hurrying away from the noise. Chickens.  
The scene he came across caught him off guard briefly. An older man, somewhat into his late fifties was huddled over and protecting something.  
A person? Laundry? Food? Money? Whatever, who cares right?

Five guys surrounded the man taking turns in beating him. One would try pulling him away from whatever he was protecting before laughing and backing away in faux surrender when he fought back. One man in particular stood away from the scene waving around his gun while demanding he hand over the 'freak' for their boss or something.  
So it was a person then, bummer. Wade was kind of hoping it was money or something so he could take it for himself.  
Still this whole thing wasn't much fair, the old man was barely fighting back, just clinging to the person underneath him. He tried swinging a small knife this time in hopes of scaring away the thugs only to have the weapon kicked from his hand. The beatings continued.

Wade was about to shrug his shoulders and walk away, because honestly he wasn't much the hero type anyways unless money was involved. His stomach was growling and this situation wasn't going to help at all.  
Unfortunately for the thugs he was spotted by the leader. "Hey asshole, enjoying the show? If you know what's good for you then you better fuck off or your next!"  
And just because of that he had to kill the guys and if the poor guy huddled on the ground was killed too then it was only an accident, just FYI.  
Instead of backing away he started forward, hands gripping the katanas safely tucked away on his belt hidden from sight by his heavy winter jacket. Can't afford to stand out too much in the city right?  
"You know." Started Wade. "I was perfectly content with letting you fuckheads beat the shit out of the poor guy and all but then you had to go and tell me what to do, like you think your my boss or something. I mean the nerve of it all and calling me an asshole, that hurts my feelings."  
Only the leader seemed to give Wade his attention. "And just what do you think your going to do about it? You dumb fuck!"  
Wade smirked and drew his blades, gaining the attention of the other three instantly. "We warned you but I guess you're too dumb to know when to walk away eh? Waste him boys!"

The three surrounded Wade who simply took in a deep breath and opened his arms, extending his blades outwards. Before the could even step forward to take a swing Wade was already twisting and spinning his body around, stopping shortly after completing a few circles. He couldn't hide his toothy grin as he glanced towards the leader who had made his way closer to the old man. The wet sound of limbs hitting the snow broke the eerie silence and boy did seeing the snow covered in red make him crave a cherry snow cone...

If Wade wasn't so well trained or had great hearing he would have missed the sound of the gun being cocked and would have ended up with a bullet in the head. But it was easily deflected causing sparks to fly from the impact, the blade vibrated violently in his hand. With the leader momentarily stunned Wade quickly approached, slicing and blocking any bullets sent his way.  
By now the man was shooting wildly and backing up while screaming at Wade "What the hell are you, you freak?! Why cant you just stand still and die?!" Wade continued to grin as he drove his blade into the mans stomach, now this ladies and gents is why I trained with blades. You can't feel the bullet sinking into flesh and organs, the tremor that runs down into your hand as you twist the blade until the victim takes one last shuddering breath.  
"Sorry buddy but no dying today, I can't do that to the world seeing as they'd miss my devilish good looks." With an upward jerk and pull of his katana innards spilled forth onto the ground, the body slumping with them.  
I want my snow cone with toppings, yum!

A weak groan reminded him of the man huddled on the ground. "P-please help, sick, so sick..." With little struggle the man fell to the side revealing a young girl with long tangled black hair, her skin sickly pale and covered with sweat. Each breath the child gave sounded ragged and painful, one hand clenched in her hair the other resting at her throat.  
Shit. He wasn't kidding when he said sick, the girl looked like she was on her deaths bed all prepped and ready to go.  
"I'm no doc but I can call you an ambulance-"  
"No!" interrupted the man. "They'll kill her or worse. Please... Please help her, I-I cant.. She has no one else, my poor child..." By now Wade had noticed the man was bleeding severely from a bullet wound, obviously a stray from the leaders poor aim.  
Double shit! No way this guy was really expecting me to look after his girl, I could be some kind of pervert and he doesn't even know me! Not that I would do anything, come on people.  
"Listen man, I'm the last person on earth you should be asking for help, lemme just find you guys some help okay?" No answer.  
"Yo, you still alive?" The man showed no signs of breathing.  
Triple shit with a side of goddammit! Okay Wade no freaking out.. Uh let's just take the girl to a nearby hospital, drop her off and then we can go get food.  
Its gonna be a-okay, I mean what's the worst that could happen, right?

As gently as possibly he pulled the girl into a sitting position while quickly checking her over for any possible wounds. The blood he found on her night gown seemed to have come from her father. Just as he tried to scoop the child up into his arms she began to stir and slowly open her eyes.  
Red, it had to be from the poor lighting from the street that made her eyes seem red, but after a few seconds he could see her eyes were more like caramel.  
He was totally not seeing things.  
She blinked in a dazed manner before jerking back in shock when she realized some stranger was holding her.  
"Oh hey you're awake, how about that. Hey, hey can you tell me your name?" She whimpered as her body shook in fear but made no effort to move or perhaps she was too weak to do so. All she could manage was twisting her body ever so slightly away but that only gave her the view of her fathers dead body, she choked out in shock as hot tears fell down her cheeks.

As she opened her mouth to speak smoke seemed to pour out instead, so much that it sent her into a violent coughing fit. Wade was caught off guard, coughing as well and hesitantly grabbed her jaw. What the fuck does she have in her mouth, smoke bomb? Gently he pried her mouth open to see what was the problem.  
The sight made him flinch and stomach twist, her entire mouth looked like someone took a torch to it. The fuck did these guys do to her?  
More smoke started to pour from her mouth and for a split second he could feel heat and see small sparks of fire in the back of her throat.  
So caught off guard his hold on her loosened but quickly retightened at the realization that this wasn't some girl he could drop off anywhere, it clicked now why those guys were trying to kill her.

She was a mutant, just like him and whether either of them liked it or not she was stuck with him until he could come up with a better solution.  
Several ragged breaths later and the smoke stopped but the tears kept coming.  
"Don't worry alright, I'm not going to hurt you but I need to get us away from here before this place becomes a spot for rubberneckers and police."  
Shaking her head she started to whimper and struggle away from him.  
"Hey did you hear what I said? Its okay, I saved you from the bad guys." He pointed to the dead bodies. "I'm like a good guy, 'kay?"  
With a shaky hand she pointed to her father.  
"Okay for once that wasn't my fault but he asked me for help."  
After a few seconds of processing this information and staring him down she spoke up. "Ash.."  
Her voice sounded so rough and ragged, like someone took a blender to her vocal cords. From what he saw he was surprised she could even speak, she had to be in tremendous pain. "My name is Ashley."

He smiled as he scooped her up into his arms and began to stand up, which she allowed thankfully giving him no struggle. "Well Ash, can I call you Ash? I'm Wade and I'm going to keep you safe." He never seemed to notice the look or pitiful whimpers she gave as he stepped over the old mans body.  
The apartment Wade decided to rent for the month was well over six blocks and his stomach reached the point of painful cramping.  
Feed me for Gods sake! He could imagine it crying out as it nommed on itself.  
The little girl Ash, he decided to call her that since it seemed fitting with her smoker lungs, was passed out in his arms and seemed to have a high fever. He could feel the heat through his jacket, his chest now soaked by either his sweat or hers but he stopped caring who's it was about ten minutes ago.  
Every once in awhile he'd shake her or pinch her side to make sure she was still alive, coughing and groaning was the only response he could get out of her.

Peeking around a corner he spotted a twenty four hour diner. What luck! Except there was one problem, one can't just walk into a diner carrying an unconscious girl in bloody clothes. Could hide her behind a garbage can... No.. Perhaps Inside the- no Wade that's not very safe or sanitary.  
Oh! I could do what most people do and stash her in a car, perfect!  
Breaking in was easy enough, he just needed to pick a decent car nearby and not get caught.  
He ended choosing a dark red two door sports car, honestly he tried walking away and picking something else not quite so flashy but... He just couldn't help himself.  
Like a pro Wade had the door opened and worked carefully to lay Ash down in the backseat.

I'm greatly regretting not having better access to the back, twisting like this just makes my stomach complain even more!  
He rested for a moment in the drivers seat, watching his breath and debated on leaving his jacket with Ash while he ran inside to grab some food.  
She was sick and that fever was getting worse, was it feed a fever and starve a cold or the other way around?  
"Fuck my luck." He quickly yanked off his jacket and tucked it around her shoulders, at the last second he left his katanas on the back seat floor boards. He deemed them safe for now. "Okay, no going anywhere, no joy rides and I'll be back ASAP."

Jumping out of the car he locked and silently closed the door. One last peek through the icy windows before running towards the diner.  
"Holy Christmas fudge it's cold out there!" He muttered while receiving looks from the few diner customers. Wade cups his hands over his mouth as he sits himself down at a small table facing the windows at the entrance, from here he can barely see the car.  
It's now when he's finally sitting down that everything hits him and hits him hard making his head throb in pain. Just what the hell is he going to do now?  
He doesn't live a regular life, he kills for fun and spends most of his time traveling.  
Stryker hardly seems the type to let a- Fuck how old is the kid anyways? Yeah he's not gonna let her stay at the base. Not that Wade would want her to anyways, who knows who she'd grow up to be in that environment. Probably more fucked up than himself and that's saying something.

"Can I get you anything mister?" A young and bored looking waitress slowly strolls over, she seems more interested in her nails than actually taking his order.  
"Uh yeah, black coffee... Chocolate chip pancakes and burger with fries to go." Kids like hamburgers right?  
She continues to stare at her hand a few seconds longer before smacking her lips and walking away.  
Real charmer that one, gonna have to tip her big. He chuckles to himself and shakes his head.  
The waitress returns with his coffee and for the first time looks him over and doesn't seem to be impressed apparently. Of course it's not like he was dressed at the moment to show off. Boots, cargo pants and a black turtle neck didn't scream sexy to everyone.

He ignores the girl for now and savors every sip of his hot coffee, hopefully this will get rid of the growing headache. After this he's gonna need to take the kid somewhere safe, probably someplace more permanent than by his side. Wonder if good ol Bradley can help me out? Maybe give him a call after this.  
It's not long till his pancakes arrive and happily he digs in, soon the painful cramping is replaced by the happy feeling of pancake butterflies. The waitress makes a face as he devours his food so quickly that he makes a decent mess with the syrup. With a huff she walks off.

"How terrible." A grey haired lady murmured several tables over, distracting Wade from his pancake bliss. "Home burned down, mother found dead and they just found the fathers body..." The lady repeats the news casters words to her husband. "No sign of the little girl.. Tsk tsk. Who could do something so terrible?"  
The old couple drone off about how terrible the world has become and Wade ever so slightly looks over his shoulder to watch the scene on the television.  
Oh shiiit, please don't let a hard situation get harder, maybe it's a different girl.  
Oh crap there was a picture of Ashley, he recognizes the older man and Ash is hugging a lady who could only be her mother, they look so similar.  
Dozens of question float around in his head. Did Ash start the fire? Did the goons? He knows who killed the dad but how did it go down with the mother? Is he gonna have a traumatized child on his hands when she wakes up?  
Whatever the answers it looks like Wades apartment is a no go, time to leave and call some friends.

He waves over the waitress who brings over the bagged hamburger and receipt. She makes several faces as she watches Wade lick his fingers and lay down a few twenties.  
"Thanks for the hot cakes, hot cakes." He chuckles to himself and resists the urge to laugh out loud when he hears angry huffs just as the restaurant doors close behind him.  
The sticky finger print faces on the counter may or may have not been on purpose.

When Wade jimmies the car door open he's caught by surprise when hot humid air and smoke pour out, what's really odd is that the smoke doesn't smell like burnt wood or tobacco. Instead it's earthy with a small hint of something like sulfur. Ash is awake, propped up and buried under his jacket with just her head poking out. She still looks like hell with red puffy eyes and that familiar glazed look as if she hasn't processed what's been happening. Wade doesn't hesitate to make a joke, he shouldn't but it's nature to him. "Blazing it up without me eh? Good thing I brought you some munchies." He tosses the restaurant bag at her.  
She blinks in a slow manner and slowly opens the Styrofoam container. When he sees the faintest hint of a smile he deems it a victory and starts working on hot wiring the car.  
The car is silent for almost five minutes except for the sound of chewing and Wade isn't sure how to start the conversation, specially what he saw on the news.  
"So I saw you on the boob tube just now, about what happened and all..."

"What's going to happen to me now?" Ash mumbles, setting down the half finished burger and starts on the fries. "Are you going to turn me in?"  
Wade bumps his head against the steering wheel and curses, but at least the car is ready. "Turn you in for what? A burned down home and dead parents? No, it's obvious whatcha are and this seems new for you so I can't hold you accountable. It's not like you did any of this on purpose right?"  
She gives him a confused look and opens her mouth to say more but instead takes a bite of her hamburger and goes silent.  
"Well get comfortable then, you're stuck with me until I figure something out. Gonna stop by my place to grab a few things then take a long drive and visit a buddy of mine... But don't tell him I said the word buddy or he might turn needy and expect me to pay for dinner next time."  
Another small smile another small victory. At least someone is enjoying his jokes.

For most of the drive Wade talks about all the places he's been, he leaves out the murders though but she listens with her full attention. Every so often she starts coughing and spewing smoke, Wade jokes to lighten the mood but when he spots her silently crying a few times he finds himself tongue tied.  
They're halfway to their final destination, they haven't even tried touching the subject of her family or what's going on but Wade thinks they should get some shut eye at a hotel first.

They find a place that looks like they'd ask the least amount of questions and don't even bother checking Wades ID when he hands over a credit card with a fake name. Second floor room 13 and thankfully Ash only complains about the color and tacky floral prints.  
Most girls would complain about the funny stains or the bugs that stop fearing humans and don't scuttle out of sight.  
He drops his duffel bag on the bed, locks the door and at the moment he can't help but feel awkward at the situation. I mean thank god there's two beds but still...  
"So how old are you? Like twelve or something?" Oh god that sounded wrong and creepy, he didn't mean it like that. Oh god.  
"Fourteen next month." She replies nonchalantly. She's removed his jacket leaving her in a night gown which goes a little past her knees and inspects the second bed.  
Pulling back the covers and fluffing the pillow, eyes half lidded and still looking like death she falls forward into the bed and covers up.  
Wade gives a little oh and rubs his face with his hands. He still feels weird and makes funny motions at the room. "Well uh... Enjoy, I'm gonna shower so don't open the door for anyone, 'Kay?" He doesn't wait for a reply and quickly heads to the bathroom.

Almost twenty minutes later go by and Wade finds himself laying on his bed trying to figure out what next. Ash is sound asleep still buried under the blankets, sometimes tossing and coughing.  
"What the fuck am I doing with my life? I'm pretty sure I never envisioned myself in this situation growing up."  
A big part of him wants to throw a temper tantrum and kick his feet but a small and insistent voice says he should do the right thing and keep an eye on the girl, at least till he can find someone reliable to dump her on.  
Wade falls asleep but wakes up a few hours later and sneaks out to find some more food.  
He did not expect a surprise when he came back.

((There are probably some… Actually probably a lot of errors in this revised edition of the first chapter as I've decided to go over them all and redo it but I don't have an editor atm. Still looking but so far nothing. So bear with me and enjoy the new changes. Also tell me what you think! ))


	2. Oh goodie, my own pet dragon!

**(AN: I don't own Deadpool or anything Marvel related. **  
**Also sorry I took so long, I just got a job finally and I've become super busy. Hopefully this chapter isn't too bad since I did the editing myself and I'm not a great editor. **

**So hopefully you guys enjoy and I hope chapter 3 doesn't take to long to finish)**

Ashely bolted upright covered in sweat, shaking like a leaf and glanced around her room, she was no longer in a dirty hotel room with a strange man named Wade, but back in her bedroom. Safe and sound back home.

Gingerly she rubbed her throat which ached but no longer seemed to burn.  
Was it just a dream? Did that mean?  
"Mommy?... Daddy?" She called out and waited anxiously for her bedroom door to open. Seconds slowly tick by that felt like minutes and she feels her throat starting to burn. Panic quickly turns into dread when the burning sensation causes her to cough up smoke.  
No this can't be happening. It was supposed to be a horrible dream, her parents are supposed to be alive and she's supposed to be normal.  
She weaves her fingers through long black strands letting worn nails scratch against her scalp, twisting she pulls hard and screams. "Mom, Dad!"  
The door flies open and Dad runs in pale faced.  
A hole in his stomach pumps out a steady stream of blood, it drips on her blankets and night gown as he leans over the bed to gently holds her arms.  
He's checking her over for anything that could have caused her to scream so loudly. Ashely points at the blood while trying to say something but the smoke from her mouth is too thick, she chokes instead.  
Can't he feel it, doesn't he know he's dying?

Mom is close behind and quickly places herself on the side of the bed, charred hands reaching out for her daughter. The burnt fingers feel real and rough against her cheeks, she wants to feel soothed by her mothers touch but she can't feel anything but fear.  
The warped and melted face smiles sweetly despite the burn wounds.  
"Its okay sweetheart, its going to be okay... Your safe now." Her mother says reassuringly. Ashely's head throbs painfully. She shakes her head regardless of the increasing pressure in her skull, each ragged breath exhales fire that engulfs her parents and bedroom. They continue to smile, continue to reach for her even as their flesh burns away.  
Strong hands grab her shoulders, firm and reassuring.  
'Wade, help me!' She tries to say but the words won't form properly, she babbles like an infant as everything goes fuzzy. At last she is able to turn away from the gruesome scene as her parents bodies slowly crumbling to the floor.

"Ash wake up! Come on you need to wake up!" She opens her eyes and sees tacky floral wallpaper of the hotel room. Her whole body feels sluggish, like someone had numbed her entire being and it's slowly waking up.  
A rough hand presses against her cheek which moves her head gently to the side, Wade is hovering above with wide shocked eyes. "Just a dream..." She mumbles more to herself.  
"Yeah, just a dream.. But I gotta ask you one thing kiddo and that is to not freak out..." He's still holding her shoulders, she flops her heavy feeling arms to try and get him to let go.  
"Wade.. What's going-" Its then she notices most of the skin on her arms have changed into charcoal colored scales. The skin on her palms and underside of her arms still look like tanned skin but she can see the scales are slowly spreading. For a moment it's all too bizarre to fully comprehend. The sensation in her fingers return, a throbbing pain making her notice sharp black claws instead of chewed pink nails. She whimpers and shakes her head which causes her vision to sway and go fuzzy.  
Dread coils in her stomach making her sick.  
Wade gives her a gentle shake before speaking to her. Ash tries to focus on him, on what he's saying but her attention is pulled away by something wrapping tightly around her leg. Glancing down Ash screams at the thin tail grown from her lower back, the scales thicker on the top like armor with smooth scales on the bottom.  
Is this Gods payback for when she accidentally killed a lizard at the pet store several years back? "Please, please not this. I don't want to be a lizard." She mutters and repeats over and over.  
Ash has no control over the thing but she can feel it in the back of her mind, the feeling similar to a limb falling asleep and waking up. It uncoils from around her leg to lash back and forth getting caught in the blanket.  
"Make it stop!" She commands Wade struggles even more in his grip, as if escaping from him would help escape from what was happening. Wade continues to hold on tight before giving a wary glance over her shoulder and flinches.

"I'm only holding you for your own protection.. That's a lie I'm actually doing it for my own protection. Just please don't hit me again, it really hurt the first time and for their size you pack quite a wallop."  
Before she could question him there's another sensation in the back of her mind but with a good amount of weight on it, it tugged and pulled along her shoulder blades.  
What was that? Poking at the new weight with her mind obviously did something by the way Wade quickly ducked his body. From the corner of her eye a black shape shifted and stretched outwards until it was visible.  
She shrieks in fear which only makes them flap and twitch like crazy. What kind of lizards had wings?  
The wings stretched out nearly five feet, they felt strong and sturdy. She could see long thin bones under leather like skin. Unlike the dark scales covering her body the wings had a mixture of gold and red scales with a small claw at the highest curve of each wing.

She was breathing heavy and trying to process the fact she was some reptilian freak. Wade cleared his throat and started to slowly let go. "No more freak outs right? You all good with the fire breathing and smack-a-Wade game?"  
"I breathed fire?" The question came out like a squeak, new limbs twitched and jerked about.  
He climbed off the bed, eyes locked on Ash and pointed at the ceiling.  
Looking up she spotted the scorch marks along the ceiling and the wall around the bed.

"This isn't happening, I thought I would just be living my life breathing smoke and that was something I could deal with but this… The bathroom, I need to go too the bathroom, I-I gotta see." Apparently this didn't seem like a good idea to Wade as he moved to stop her but took a quick step back when her wings flared open unexpectedly.  
Ash moved across the bed, fighting with her tail as it tried curling around her wrists, ankles and anything nearby. Legs wobbled as she tried standing but gave out, the fall to the floor was stopped when her wings snapped out and hooked their claws into the wall.  
"So that's what those were for." Murmured Wade. He moved closer but with enough distance to avoid being smacked.

The room started to spin but she was determined to see the full extent of the damage. "Ash, please don't worry about it, your fine and there is nothing wrong." He pleaded and motioned her to come over to him.  
She said nothing but closed her eyes and pushed herself past the bathroom door. She needed to see the extent of the damage, treat it like a bandaid right?  
Counting to ten she felt around for the light switch and opened her eyes.

Ash couldn't even find the breath to scream this time when she saw the monster with her hair and eyes. Tears fell freely as she reached up with shaky hands, gingerly touching the horns that curved out from her temples and backwards. She looked like a villain in some kind of kids movie.  
"I don't want to be a monster, who could care and love me like this?" As she hugged her arms tightly her wings slowly came down to wrap around her as well.  
Someone was speaking, words muffled like her ears were stuffed with cotton and as Ash turned to find the voice her vision faded to black.

Wade here, now back to my POV or what seems like my POV because I'm not sure what was going on back there. Could have been my POV or her POV… Maybe this story is a clusterfuck of POVs?

Anyways, back to me!

It was the smell of smoke, like something was actually burning that caught Wades attention as he approached the hotel door. His stomach was full, content after his midnight snack attack. Now he could finally go back to sleep.

Was someone having a BBQ this late at night? Why wasn't I invited?

He shrugged it off, opened the door and was greeted by a fiery sight.  
Ash was crying out in her sleep, her body twisting and writhing in agony. Clutching the blankets she threw her head back and exhaled a giant ball of fire, thankfully it didn't set but was sure doing a good job getting scorched to hell.

Wade closed and locked the door before moving closer to Ash. From here he could see that she was shifting and a little part of him relaxed. This must be the first time her powers were fully showing.  
Scales pushed forth to cover most of her skin, wings stretched from her back and a thin tail thrashed beneath her.

Remember that time I mentioned in chapter one about what's the worse that could happen from all this? Well that was before I watched the little girl before my eyes change into a fuckin dragon!  
Okay maybe this was kinda cool, until Ash screamed bloody murder and expelled another giant fireball at the ceiling.

Not quite that cool anymore, actually it was getting a little warm in here.

Grabbing her arms he tried to shake her awake but got a wing to the chest knocking him to the ground. "Holy shit! Lets not do that again." Wade groaned out loud before returning to her side, being careful to avoid her wings this time.

Now I could continue, tell you from my point what you guys have already seen but that's boring and it's mostly me being in shock and awe. So let's skip to me having to drag a now unconscious dragon from the bathroom and back to bed.

Sometime during dragging her to bed and watching half an episode of some cooking channel did Ash shapeshift a bit during her sleep.  
She looked halfway human now.  
I say halfway because not all her... Dragonness? went away.  
The wings shrunk a bit, the tail was still there and her horns shrank down a bit as well. The scales came in patches now, her face was clear until her chin and fingers were claw free. He wasn't sure about the rest of her body and there was no way he was gonna think further on that.

I may be a pervert but not that big of a pervert, come on people.

"Wade? Wha-what happened?" Looks like sleeping beauty awakens. Ash sat up with a groan and rubbed her head, flinching when she brushed against her horns. As calmly as could be, though she was shaking like a leaf, she looked her body over and sighed heavily when she noticed not much had gone away.  
"What happened? Well we learned you're not a chimney but are in fact some kind of dragon. Its actually kinda cool when you think about it, always wanted to be friends with a dragon."

Standing up from the bed she stumbled over to Wade, her tail seemed to be throwing her off as it swung this way and that.  
"How is this cool? Why didn't it go away? Is this going to be permanent?" Letting out a yawn Wade messed with his hair before shrugging and digging through a bag on his bed, pulling out several articles of clothing.  
"Sorry kiddo I'm no draco expert but good news is I picked up a few things for you to wear after I ate. I don't know your size so I hope your okay with baggy."  
Ash caught the clothes thrown at her and looked them over. A pair of dark khaki pants, a black t-shirt and giant red hoodie. "No shoes?" She inquired while wiggling her toes. "Easier to guess size on clothes but we can grab you some shoes and more clothes today before we continue our drive."

Ash looked at the clothes then down at her body before breaking down and crying. Wade bit his lip nervously before stepping over to awkwardly pat her back, he didn't expect her to take that as a cue to hug him. "Uh, there there?" After a few more minutes of crying and awkward hugging Ash finally let go and silently headed to the bathroom to change.  
"I'll never understand crying girls." Wade mumbled to himself as he slipped on his boots and gathered his things.

After several minutes she finally came out but was grumbling about her tail.  
"My pants either have to fall off my butt and rest above my tail which is uncomfortable, I need a hole or something..."  
Wade put his hands up in a mock surrender and shook his head. "Ain't getting anywhere near that butt of yours." Ash smiled and rubbed her puffy red eyes. "I just need to borrow a knife, ill do it myself."  
Wiping away non existent sweat from his forehead he reached into his boot and handed her a small dagger. "Have fun."

While waiting for her to dress he packed up the car and waited outside. There was fresh snow on the ground and the sun had barely risen above the trees. He turned his back to the sun, letting his muscle slowly warm and exhaled a heavy sigh. His breath came out in visible puffs. "Heh.. I'm Ash."

When Ash finally stepped out he gave her a quick look over but couldn't help notice her tail wasn't there. "I don't think 'have fun' meant cutting off your tail..." Quickly lifting up the red hoodie which fell a little past her hips, he could see the tail wrapped around her waist and help up by strips of cloth.  
"Temporary until I learn how to keep it still." She mumbled while lowering her hoodie back down.

"Won't the hotel owner get mad about the damage to the room and come after you?" Wade shook his head as they climbed into the car. "Nah, fake name and fake info. Some poor shmuck elsewhere will hear about it and get charged instead." Ash toed the snow and looked surprised. "Barely feel the cold." She told Wade who shrugged his shoulders. "I bet as a dragon you have some resistance to the cold, probably to the heat as well."

The inside of the car was a mess, it looked like Wade smuggled a small Mexican restaurant. Wrappers, crumbs and bags galore. "What happened after I fell asleep? Did you eat all of this yourself?" He merely grinned. "Maybe, maybe not. Ill never tell."

Taking another look around Ash realized they weren't in Manhattan anymore, everything was still covered in snow but they weren't surrounded by tall buildings. "Where are we?"  
"Somewhere near the border of Pennsylvania and we are heading to Ohio to visit a good friend, well not that good but close enough. Scrawny guy who likes little electrical toys far too much, so much I think he might be the first guy to try and invest in a robot lover or something."  
Ash couldn't tell if he was joking or not, no smirk or laugh as they climbed in the vehicle and took off.

"Depending how useful he is we may have to stop at a few other states." That seemed to be all the info she would get at the moment as they pulled up to a Kmart.  
Wade spotted a pay phone and handed Ash a handful of bills."I need to make a quick phone call so why don't you go find some clothes and whatever else you miniature females need, ill find ya when I'm done, 'kay?"  
Ash looked hesitant but he gave her no chance to protest as he climbed out and jogged over to the phone, neither of them bothered locking the car. Could she be trusted alone in a store, even for a short while?

Making sure the hoodie was safely covering her horns and sleeves over her knuckles, she made her way inside. She received a few looks so first stop was shoes where she found a comfortable pair of hiking boots. In the clothing section dresses and skirts were quickly ignored.  
A pair of blue jeans and green cargo pants were good enough, of course for now when it came to shirts she was stuck with long sleeves. After grabbing dozens of socks, undergarments and a backpack she realized that she probably should have grabbed a basket.

She ended up juggling her items when someone tapped her shoulder.  
The voice didn't belong to Wade. "Need some help miss?"  
During her look for a hand basket, a young man, an employee, had noticed her distress and came over with a empty basket. Blushing she quickly ducked her head, dumped her items into the basket and double checked her hood.  
"Thanks, I wasn't thinking that far ahead." She expected him to give his welcome and then leave but he continued to stand there and watch her. "No worries miss, anything else I can help you with?" He bent over a little to try catching a better glimpse of her face but she shook her head.

"Are you here alone? Where's your parents?" Ash frowned at the question and thankfully was saved by Wade.  
"Found ya! Apparently a different girl and guy both wear the same hoodie like you. They didn't seem to enjoy some random guy jumping out at them though. Ohh did you get me anything?" Wade stepped between the two to rummage through the basket in Ash's hands. The young man watched them curiously for a few seconds before silently walking away. Ash couldn't help but feel relieved since her new found curse, or gift as Wade would probably call it, made her feel anxious to be out in public.  
How would people react to her now? What would they do to her if or when they found out?  
A flick to the forehead stopped her train of thought. "Dazing off while people talk is supposed to be my thing. Huh, actually being in that position is weird, I kinda feel bad for the people I ignore."

Ash mumbled an apology and watched as Wade critiqued what items she had picked. "No worries, got a lot going on in your dragon noodle. Okay lemme carry this and lets waltz around to see if we need anything else before continuing our road trip." A black beanie, notebook and a few disposable cameras.  
Wade tried putting them back but they found their way back into the basket.  
"Why cameras?" He questioned when she put them back in the basket for the third time, now he was just messing with her. "My family, we used to take pictures all the time, now I lost all my pictures of my family. I just want to continue our little tradition."  
She didn't have to say anymore before he grabbed a few more cameras. Looks like he was gonna have to look into something more permanent then disposal cameras one day. They passed a toy aisle where Wade disappeared for a short while only returning with a few coloring books.  
Ash made a face and shook her head while walking away. "I'm too old for coloring books." She commented which made him laugh.  
"No ones ever too old, besides I never said it was for you. Gonna color outside the lines without you."

Ash gave him a grin which seemed to lighten up the dark circles under her eyes. This was another moment were she couldn't tell if he was joking but by now it seemed like he always meant what he said, regardless of what others thought.  
"Well I'm ready if your ready? Sooner we start driving the sooner we get to my buddies place and some proper rest." Ash nodded and followed him to the checkout, the employee from before was at another register when he spotted her, he gave a small nod and smile.

Quickly she hid behind Wade and fidgeted with her hood. "Maybe its just me but he's giving me the creeps.. He say anything odd to you?"  
Nervously she chewed on her lip. "He asked me about my parents and if I was alone... Then you showed up." He narrowed his eyes at the employee.

Not sure if news of her disappearance has reached this far or if its something else but I guess we've extended our stay here.

Wade hurried her out of the store as soon as their items were paid for. "I think we need to leave this town asap." Ash asked no questions, only nodded and followed him closely.  
Wade threw their stuff in the back seat, ignoring the taco wrappers for now while Ash ripped open the bag of socks and put on her boots.  
"I like them, thanks for the clothes and all." Waving a dismissive hand he started the engine and waited for Ash to sit down. She grabbed the backpack and proceeded to rip off the tags on all the new item before pulling out one of cameras. Winding it up she turned and snapped a surprise photo of Wade, then flipped the camera to snap one of herself. She regretted it the instant she was blinded by the flash, she probably looked like crap still.

"You should have given me a warning." Sighed Wade. "I could have posed for you." She shook her head. "I like capturing people when they least expect it."  
This information was quickly ignored as Wade let go of the steering wheel and flexed.  
"H-hey! Eyes on the road!" She cried out in shock but he still continued to pose. "Not till you take another good picture of me." She hesitated a few seconds before giving in and snapping a pic, his hands immediately went back to the wheel. Wade looked too smug and content, she decided then that he truly was crazy but for some reason that was okay.

They drove all day, stopping every now and then to grab food or stretch their legs. Currently they were at a small park in Ohio.  
"You know, I never really thought to ask but why do you have those swords in the back of the car?" Wade looked up from his sandwich and seemed to think on her question for some time before answering. "Long as you don't spread the word around like herpes then I guess it wont hurt to tell you. I'm a mercenary, get paid to kill people and all. Theres also some top secret stuff but I cant really tell you that right now."  
The fact he killed people for a job seemed to shock her. "You kill bad guys, like a super hero right?" Shit, he couldn't really bring himself to tell her the truth so he finished off his sandwich and nodded his head. Ash immediately smiled at his answer and he really hoped he didn't have to do anymore lying to her because it didn't sit too well in his stomach, or maybe it was the turkey.

"Okay back to the car, we should be at our destination in about three hours or so." With a loud yawn she nodded and headed back to the car, she hoped they would get there soon because being in a car all day was killing her back. Flipping down the visor she took a quick glance at her reflection to see the horns were still there as well as everything else, so far no changes. The next few hours were spent trying to control her tail, it was only after Wade got smacked several times that tail training was put on hold until he could be at a safe distance.  
Eventually they turned down a rugged dirt, passed a empty plot of land and stopped at a trailer park.

"Made it!" Wade parked and moved to grab all their stuff, katanas included. Pulling out her camera she took a few shots of the snow covered trees and homes before following Wade to the furthest trailer.

"Ready or not I'm coming in and I hope your not naked!" Announced Wade as he threw open the door and waltzed in, a mans voice cried out in shock. "Dammnit Wilson, cant you knock like a regular person? What if I had company over?"  
Psssh, what company could be better than me?  
"Relax sparky, besides I brought company and you better be nice... Speaking of company, come on in Ash and meet our roommate for the next few weeks."  
"Few weeks?" Squeaked the voice. "You said a few days."

Ash slowly stepped into the cramped trailer and shyly waved to the blonde man standing next to Wade.  
"Potato, potato... Chris this is Ash, Ash this is Chris."  
Wade introduced with a grin and plopped down on the dirty tan couch. Chris looked at her in shock, feeling self conscious she pulled on her hoodie. "Why is there a little girl with you Wade? Oh please don't tell me-"  
"No no, its not like that!" Wade quickly said while shaking his head. "Is she- "No its not like that either, besides she too old.. Ill tell you about it later but for now shes living with me and also shes one of us but you gotta keep it on the down low."  
Chris's eyes widened in understanding. He turn and extended a hand to Ash. "Well its a pleasure to meet you then, mi casa es su casa I suppose."  
She shook his hand and nervously looked around the room. The trailer was small, enough for a single person but Wade wanted to stay here for a few weeks?

"So Ash, where are you from?" Asked Chris as he sat down in a chair by the couch, not wanting to be the only one standing she quickly plopped down next to Wade. "Manhattan..."  
"Nice city, been there several times myself. So uh, where's your parents?" Wade didn't get to hush him in time and frowned.  
"They're... Gone." Chris flinched in pain when Wade punched him in the arm. "Sorry, I didn't- I mean no one told me not to ask."  
"It's okay, you didn't know." She could feel her eyes water, saying they were dead out loud felt like her body was drench in ice water. Almost at once the past few days seemed to catch up and all she wanted was to sleep it all away. Wiping her face with her sleeves she yawned and tugged on Wades sleeve.  
"Do you know where I can sleep for a bit? I'm really tired."  
Ah right. "Uh hey Chris, do you think she can crash on your bed for awhile and ill move her to the couch later." Chris nodded and mumbled something about straightening up his room and hurried off. He was probably grateful to get away for a moment after asking about her parents.

"Probably just going to hide all his mags, if you know what I- Nevermind."  
Come on man, totally not girl appropriate talk.

Besides being small the trailer was pretty bare with the exception of a few various toys, train sets and several lamps. A tv sat in the corner of the room, buried under papers and clothes.  
"You said that I'm one of you guys, whats his ability?" Questioned Ash.  
Wade motioned to the lights and things currently running in the room. "Look closely and you'll notice nothing here is plugged in. Guys got a fancy way of controlling electricity and a handy techopath. Means he never has to worry about the electricity bill."

Ash sighed, why couldnt she have something cool like that.

"Wait, so what can you do then?" Before he could answer, Chris interrupted and walked over. "He's got the power to annoy anyone at anytime." Everyone was chuckling. "Careful now, I know where you sleep."

Wade stood and led Ash to the bedroom, this room also had toys and dozens of lights. "Now if you need anything, anything at all just call for me okay?"  
Nodding she quickly turned and hugged him tightly causing Wade to flinch. Like last time he gave her back and awkward pat but he couldn't fight the smile that tugged on his lips. "Whats this for?" He questioned.

"For everything. For being there." Ash let go and slowly pulled off her hoodie, her wings stretched and gave a little shake after being trapped for so long. The red and gold scales gave a beautiful shimmer under all the light, once stretched properly they folded themselves close to her back.  
"Night Wade." She mumbled before disappearing under all the blankets and pillows.

Yeah, this kid was quickly working her way into his heart.  
Rubbing his eyes he turned and closed the door behind him, time to explain everything to Chris.


End file.
